First Trust Advisors LP Raises Stake in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI)

First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in MercadoLibre, Inc. (NASDAQ:MELI – Get Rating) by 8.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,870 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,239 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in MercadoLibre were worth $13,430,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Raymond James Trust N.A. acquired a new position in shares of MercadoLibre in the 1st quarter valued at $236,000. Cibc World Market Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 6.1% in the 1st quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 659 shares of the company’s stock valued at $784,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 8.6% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 189 shares of the company’s stock valued at $225,000 after purchasing an additional 15 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 10.1% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 2,878 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,423,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in shares of MercadoLibre by 25.1% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 1,048 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,247,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. 80.49% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Emiliano Calemzuk sold 150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,256.00, for a total transaction of $188,400.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 115 shares in the company, valued at approximately $144,440. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

MercadoLibre Trading Down 3.0 %

MELI opened at $1,299.83 on Wednesday. MercadoLibre, Inc. has a one year low of $600.68 and a one year high of $1,365.64. The company has a market cap of $65.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 106.46, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.28. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $1,263.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $1,107.59.

MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 3rd. The company reported $3.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.04 by $0.93. MercadoLibre had a return on equity of 34.92% and a net margin of 5.46%. The business had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.30 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that MercadoLibre, Inc. will post 16.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. BTIG Research increased their target price on MercadoLibre from $1,400.00 to $1,600.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. Bank of America increased their target price on MercadoLibre from $1,400.00 to $1,680.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 13th. Citigroup increased their target price on MercadoLibre from $1,100.00 to $1,460.00 in a research note on Friday, March 3rd. Barclays increased their target price on MercadoLibre from $1,525.00 to $1,575.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group decreased their target price on MercadoLibre from $1,750.00 to $1,700.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MercadoLibre has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $1,480.50.

About MercadoLibre

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MercadoLibre, Inc engages in the development of an online commerce platform with a focus on e-commerce and related services. It operates through the following geographical segments: Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, and Other Countries. The Other Countries segment includes Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Bolivia, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Paraguay, Uruguay, and the United States of America.